Chapter 29: Goosebumps!

The story happened on a rainy night; a man with an umbrella was walking in a hurry on the street; he stopped a taxi, sat in the back seat, and reported the destination.

The taxi started slowly; the driver glanced through the rearview mirror and felt that the man was a bit familiar, so he asked: "Guest, you've been on TV, right? You are a member of that handsome magician duo, right? My niece is your loyal fan."

The man didn't want to pay attention to this driver and responded coldly: "No."

The driver used a tone with a hint of sarcasm: "Those celebrities love to act garlic; they are not pestering for autographs. My niece said it right; those celebrities hate the active strike-up of fans, but if you don't pay attention to him, he will report his name himself."

The man's face was even more unkind; he wanted to say something.

But the driver still said it himself: "This behavior pattern is like a criminal; they all say that criminals will return to the scene; some are clearly escaping, but deliberately mention their own case; I suddenly feel that it makes sense."

The heavy rain outside the window hit the car window, and the man sitting in the back seat seemed to have been touched by something.

The driver said in a complaining tone: "For example, that news eye anchor Torikai Kumi, her attitude is particularly bad; I once said to her 'It's hard work, so late,' and as a result, I was met with a white eye."

After a pause, he continued: "Speaking of which, her house seems to be nearby."

The man listened quietly to what the driver said and didn't make a sound.

The driver's mouth didn't stop: "She was harmed half a year ago, and she held a weapon when she died. What a pity, I am her loyal fan. The criminal hasn't been caught yet, and it doesn't look like a robbery crime."

Hearing this, the man finally opened his mouth: "The magazine said it seemed to be done by an over-excited fan."

The driver corrected his statement: "What fan; it's clearly a stalker. It is said that 2 months before the case, she had been troubled by harassment calls and threatening letters; I heard that she seemed to have lost her manual in a taxi, and then she started to receive harassment calls."

He said in an uncertain tone: "If it's true, it's probably the guest who got on the car after her who picked it up; the criminal must be that guy."

The man disagreed: "The one who picked up the manual is not necessarily the guest who got on later; it could also be the driver."

At this time, the driver suddenly stepped on the emergency brake, and the car body shook. The man asked what was going on; the driver returned that it was a one-way street and prohibited from passing.

Then, the car drove onto another road.

The driver's hands were on the steering wheel, but his face appeared and disappeared in the darkness, and his tone was very flat.

"It is said that Torikai Kumi had a scandal before, and someone saw her being intimate with a married man. This scandal was just exposed, and the wife of that lover died strangely at home."

"Died strangely?"

"Yes, she hit her head at her own door, and the police treated it as an accidental accident." The driver said expressionlessly: "It is rumored that Torikai Kumi did it, and I think so too."

"That's ugly; you still claim to be her fan."

The driver defended: "It's because I'm a fan that I say this; hearing the scandal spread, I feel that it is simply a betrayal."

The man sighed: "Torikai Kumi might have been killed by fans like you who are extreme."

"Hard to say; I think the murderer didn't want to harm her originally."

"Why?"

The driver said indifferently: "Because this is not a simple murder case."

The car stopped in front of a residential house, but this was not the destination the man was going to at all; the man questioned: "Where is this?"

The driver put down the hands on the steering wheel and answered unhurriedly: "That house Torikai Kumi used to live in; now it's empty."

The man poked his head to look at the house and asked with a puzzled expression: "How did we get to this place?"

The driver responded: "Just passing by, want to let you take a look."

The man was a bit angry and told the driver to drive quickly.

The driver suddenly seemed to remember something and said to the man: "By the way, look at that tree in the yard."

After the man looked over with a bit of confusion, the driver said: "It's an elm tree; I heard the murderer climbed to the second-floor balcony with the help of that tree."

The man seemed unable to stand the driver's endless talk and cursed: "Less nonsense, drive quickly. Don't play tricks with me; I'm in a hurry."

Seeing that the man was really impatient, the driver could only start the car.

But after the car started, the man couldn't help but look at the house again, not knowing what he was thinking in his heart.

The car drove for a while, and the driver analyzed the case again: "That case has doubts; why did the murderer sneak in from the second-floor window? It snowed all morning on the day of the murder, and clear footprints of the murderer were left in the yard, showing that he went straight to that tree, as if he knew the second floor was not locked."

He paused and added: "Don't you think it's suspicious?"

"Maybe it was accidentally discovered that the window was open?"

"But it was cold winter at the time; who would go out with the window open? I think the murderer was informed in advance that the window was not closed."

The man was a bit puzzled for a moment; he pursued: "By whom?"

"The deceased, Torikai Kumi."

After telling this guess, the driver continued to analyze: "She entrusted the murderer to enter the room from the window; this way, it is reasonable for the criminal to climb directly to the second-floor balcony. My niece also once lost her key and called her boyfriend to climb in from the window."

The man was still skeptical: "But when she died, she held a weapon; isn't it because she discovered illegal intrusion by others?"

The driver sneered and said: "If it was entrusted by herself, there is no need for that. She just lied that she lost her key."

He emphasized his tone: "Everything is a scheme."

"Scheme?"

"She wanted to kill that person, first called him a stalker, and then used the excuse of no key to trick him to the second floor, and then she took the weapon up to kill the person who was tricked."

Suddenly, the taxi stopped; it turned out to be a red light.

The driver said unhappily: "Torikai Kumi pretended to be legitimate defense, but actually it was intentional harm; she is the real murderer!"

The man didn't understand: "But the victim is Torikai..."

Suddenly, the driver turned his head, his face looked very fierce in the red light, and he said in a low voice: "That man naturally had to resist; didn't I say it, the murderer had no intention to kill at all."

"Then what about the stalker and harassment maniac she mentioned?"

The driver seemed to be hit on the pain point and said viciously: "Nonsense! All nonsense! There is no such thing as a stalker and harassment maniac."

Looking at the driver's ferocious expression, the man thought about it.

The driver finished this sentence, turned his head back, gritted his teeth and said: "This is the truth of the matter I inferred; Torikai Kumi is not a victim at all; she is a clumsy, self-inflicted, despicable and shameless woman!"

The man looked at the driver's hand holding the steering wheel getting tighter and tighter, and his guess became more and more certain.

The red light turned green, and the taxi started to start slowly again.

The man saw the driver driving silently and took the initiative to pick up the topic: "If the truth is really like this, what kind of person do you think the murderer is?"

The driver responded coldly, "Can't think of it."

The man saw that

The driver said indifferently, "I give up on you, don't be so serious."

But the man ignored the driver's words, "The murderer might have grasped some leverage over Torikai Kumi."

Seeing the driver remain silent, he said directly to the driver: "You just said that the wife of Torikai Kumi's lover died accidentally, and it is rumored that Torikai Kumi was the one who did the dirty deed."

"That's just a rumor."

"What if it's true, and someone found out?"

The man's gaze became increasingly sharp, and he said bluntly: "Torikai Kumi didn't encounter a stalker at all, but was being harassed by a blackmailer."

The driver retorted: "The harassment incident was just her talking nonsense."

The man remained relentless: "Didn't you say she only started being harassed after she lost her handbook? If she was talking nonsense, why specifically say it was in a taxi? Therefore, she really did lose her handbook, and it contained her secret of murder."

His expression became increasingly convinced, "So, the driver who found the handbook learned Torikai Kumi's secret and became the blackmailer who troubled her."

The driver glanced at the man through the rearview mirror, his eyes filled with an inexplicable meaning.

The man seemed not to notice and continued: "So, that night she lied about losing her keys, let the driver climb in through the second-floor window, intending to finish off the driver, but didn't expect that, due to the driver's resistance, she accidentally fell down the stairs during the struggle."

"Later the driver ran away, but because he was never arrested, he couldn't help but use this incident as a conversation piece with passengers. After all, he himself said that criminals like to return to the crime scene, or talk about the case as if nothing happened, which just happens to coincide with what he did tonight."

"Therefore, the murderer who killed Torikai Kumi is the driver himself."

Speaking to this point, the man looked at the driver with a face full of conviction, as if he had already concluded that he was the murderer.

The driver, however, suddenly burst into laughter, and then said with a smile: "Sir, don't use such a serious expression to joke. Your deduction is very interesting, but I am not the murderer, because I have only been doing this job for three months."

This news shocked the man, as it meant the previous deduction was completely invalid, after all, this case had already happened half a year ago.

The driver drove the car and further overturned the previous judgment: "That the lover's wife was murdered by Torikai Kumi is also nonsense; the police had already determined it was an accidental death. Besides..."

"Besides?"

"The reason the murderer who killed Torikai Kumi climbed in from the second floor was simply because the second-floor window was open," he said solemnly.

The man questioned: "Didn't you just say it was the dead of winter, who would leave a window open when going out?"

The driver had a strange expression, then explained: "To tell you the truth, Torikai Kumi kept a cat, and leaving the window open was to let the cat come and go. This is the testimony I got from her neighbor, it can't be wrong."

"Testimony?!" The man was surprised once again.

The driver answered unhurriedly: "Three months ago I was still a police officer, but I resigned because I was tired of interpersonal relationships. I really didn't expect you to be so interested and actually take me for a murderer."

Upon learning this unexpected answer, the man widened his eyes, then let out a sigh of relief, and blamed the driver: "Because you deliberately pretended to be like this to make me suspicious."

"I was afraid you'd be bored, isn't this interesting?"

The driver continued: "A taxi driver blackmailing a celebrity after witnessing them commit a crime, quite a nice suspense novel." Suddenly his tone changed, "If the driver who witnessed it was me..."

The man was quite interested: "If it were you?"

At this moment, the car reached the destination the man mentioned.

The driver looked out the car window and asked the man: "Is this okay?"

The man was about to answer when the taxi driver suddenly turned his face, widened his eyes, and said in a very excited tone: "I remember now, you are Tom, Tom Nishimura from the Tom-Juli duo."

The man's expression stiffened for a moment, then he admitted it.

The driver was still very excited, "You have such a rich imagination, otherwise you wouldn't have so many rich magic ideas."

Hearing the driver's praise, the man did not look very happy. He leaned back against the seat and said powerlessly: "The ideas are all thought up by my partner. My partner says I'm a burden and wants to break up the duo. I just had an argument at his place today."

The driver's tone suddenly changed, "No wonder you look like this, Mr. Tom."

"Look like what?"

"I can tell at a glance that something happened."

The man fell into deep thought, and some fragments flashed through his mind. He not only had an argument with his partner tonight, but also strangled him to death with a rope with his own hands, which is why he was walking in the rainy night and hurriedly took a taxi to leave.

Thinking of this, the man showed a strange smile and said to the driver: "Excuse me, can you drive a bit further ahead?"

The driver said "Okay" and stepped on the gas.

The man then asked: "Continuing your previous hypothesis, if you picked up a famous passenger, and the next day heard the news that someone related to him was murdered near where the passenger got on, what would you do?"

The driver responded with a smile: "If it were me, I would definitely go blackmail him."

After a pause, he added: "Just kidding, I would call the police, after all, I used to be a police officer."

The man was silent for a while, and slowly reached his hand into a bag he was carrying, seemingly fumbling for something.

After driving for a while, the driver asked proactively: "Where should I drive to?"

The man's hand gripped something, but he still responded calmly: "Please go a little further ahead, into that secluded little road."

The driver said "Okay" and continued driving.

The taxi slowly drove forward, driving into the night in the distance...

Seeing the end, the hair on Uesugi Sonoko's back stood up!

What does this mean? Will the driver be killed? Or can he kill this man in return?

Also, is the driver really the murderer who killed that female anchor? But if he was originally a police officer, how does that explain the female anchor's death?

However, this short story is really good. If it were made into a movie or TV show, it would definitely be even scarier!

No, I have to let more people see it!